Book Clubs Column by Julie Hale

AMONG THE STARSCelebrated nonfiction writer Peter Heller ventures into new creative territory with his inventive debut novel, The Dog Stars. Hig, the book’s hero, lives at an old airstrip in Colorado with his Blue Heeler, Jasper. A flu epidemic has eliminated most of the world’s population, including Hig’s wife, and his only human company is Bangley, a cranky Navy SEAL who...

Audio Column by Sukey Howard

All doctors have human frailties, all doctors make medical errors and for the neurosurgical team at Chelsea General the 6 a.m. Monday morning meetings of the Morbidity and Mortality conference are where mistakes are admitted and dissected. And it’s these meetings that punctuate Monday Mornings, the debut novel by CNN’s chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon Sanjay...

A return to Mantel's royal court

Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel’s sequel to the spellbinding Wolf Hall, is one of the most anticipated books of the season. A uniquely told and utterly absorbing study of Thomas Cromwell, who rose to prominence from humble beginnings, Wolf Hall concluded with Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. Bring Up the Bodies plunges the reader back into the royal court just a few years...

In King Henry’s court

Hilary Mantel sets a new standard for historical fiction with her latest novel Wolf Hall, a riveting portrait of Thomas Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII and a significant political figure in Tudor England. Mantel’s crystalline style, piercing eye and interest in, shall we say, the darker side of human nature, together with a real respect for historical accuracy, make this novel an engrossing, enveloping read.